The hits just keep coming in the wake of Liverpool’s FA Cup exit at the hands of Aston Villa yesterday with Reds skipper Steven Gerrard, re-instated to the starting eleven after serving out a three match ban for stamping on Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera, refusing to put lip-stick on that pig of a performance.
Denied a fairy-tale ending to a storied career, the long serving captain can now only hope to play some part in securing a top four finish for the Anfield outfit before moving to the sunny shores of America when his contract expires this summer. That, of course, will be easier said than done; they may have a match in hand, but with Liverpool sitting seven points off of Manchester City and down in the dumps after Sunday’s shambolic outing, the bridge that already looked too far may now be unusable.
“We didn’t play today, we looked very nervous for some reason. We’re a team that’s built on passing and playing it quickly but we were very disappointing in that aspect and they were much better than us,” was his blunt assessment of Liverpool’s performance after they meekly bowed out of the FA Cup. “We were very disappointing. I thought Aston Villa were much better than us today and that’s the overriding feeling after the game.”
One can only hope it won’t last for long; although it wouldn’t be as fitting as seeing Gerrard run out in the final on his birthday and what’s certain to be his last match for the club he’s not only played for, but supported his entire life, somehow securing Champions League football for the Reds could very well be a feat far more important for the club in the long-term. The 34-year old has always been a player that demanded more from those around him, and if he can pick the club up in the wake of this latest setback, that would be an acceptable, if far less glamorous, send-off for him.
